


Meeting Again

by thatdragonchic



Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, lukas and philip reunion of sorts, lukas visits philip, mentions of gilmore girls, philip and lukas sit over dinner ig, philip is married and has a kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 02:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9299210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdragonchic/pseuds/thatdragonchic
Summary: The whole thing was a horror nightmare pity party and Lukas wishes he could rewind to the moment Philip went "we should catch up, dinner tonight?" and what did he expect? That Philip would pull Lukas to the balcony away from his husband and kiss him, like they were meant to be? Philip just wants closure, Lukas has no idea why he's here.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually really proud of this, I think it came out pretty good. Mostly unbeta'd. But I hope y'all enjoy, leave comments and feedback!   
> my tumblr is waldenbeckboys if you want to contact me further

Lukas stands there, and breathes in deep. Why did he accept Philip’s invitation here? To his house, where him and his husband and  _ child  _ lived? Just to ‘catch up’ in their kitchen while they made drinks- because they were old enough now- and probably a nice dinner he didn’t deserve? Philip all but panicked upon seeing Lukas, and with his daughter tugging on his pant leg, asking about a box of cookies, it was his quick way out. Lukas knew that, after all these years he knew that. After Lukas had fucked up their relationship (what was he thinking kissing that other boy at that party all those years ago? He learned then that Jealousy was the worst way to get somebody to show affection,) all those years ago, just bordering seventeen and the end of Junior year, he learned when Philip took the quick way out. Fast spoken, jumbled words, that ended normally in  _ see you later maybe  _ or  _ I can’t talk now but maybe I’ll call you later  _ and eventually ending with  _ Now isn’t the time Lukas, maybe some other time, some other day… some other lifetime where you didn’t really hurt me so bad…  _

It was the quick way out, but also, Philip invited him. Insisted even. Wrote his new number on Lukas’ soft hand in a pen that of  _ course  _ Philip was carrying with him. So of course he texts him-  _ I don’t have to come tonight.  _ Which replied with  _ ‘of course you do, be here by six, Laurie’s coming home early.’ _

Laurie. It was so weird. Knowing Philip was with his previously ex-boyfriend from Projects and was now married to him, working as a full time photograph while  _ Laurelle  _ was an FBI agent high on the New York City ends. He was beautiful, dark skinned, with curls and freckles that were so faint but stuck out in the right lighting- he knew that because Philip still had pictures lying in a box somewhere while they dated, and he had met Laurelle while they were dating. And now he was about to meet him again, with his arm around Philip’s waist this time, and their wedding bands on their ring fingers. He wonders if he hadn’t messed up so bad if it could have been him. 

He breathes in, he can’t stand here thinking all night. So he knocks. He knocks because there’s no point in thinking what could have been- Philip is married now, and Lukas is seeing somebody, casually but still seeing them. He knocks and Philip opens, with his hair brushed back and a patterned button up on that accentuate arms that are a lot stronger than he remembers and skinny jeans, that kept things a little more casual. He had socks with little ghosts on them and their daughter (god what was her name again? It was something weird…) right behind him.

“Lukas hi,” Philip greets almost awkwardly. “We were afraid you wouldn’t come and then what would we do with all this food that we made?”

“You didn’t have to make much… I mean I have a Motocross Meeting tomorrow and I wouldn’t want to be… bloated.”

Philip laughs and nods. “Right. Well, just don’t eat too much, you’ll be fine.”

He steps aside, almost tripping over his tiny, curly-haired two year old. The little black girl happily sitting on the floor by her father before raising her hands for him to lift her. Philip complies quite nicely and he leads him along the narrow hallway, into an opening along the expanse of the black-wood wall of what seems to be a  _ very  _ large apartment (penthouse?).  They’re in the kitchen where Laurelle is stirring something in a saucepan. Chicken, Lukas figures and he turns and gives him this dazzling smile- and god no wonder Philip is in love with  _ him. _

Lukas is quickly finding Laurelle is nothing short of what he remembered him. Still thin yet strong, his jaw and cheekbones were still sharp as ever, and his curls were pulled into a bun on his head with a navy-blue scrunchy. He had a long sleeve turtle neck on and Lukas didn’t know anybody else who could pull one off so casually, with khakis He turns and says  _ Hi  _ like he was glad Lukas was there. Philip takes over the saucepan and Laurelle takes over the socializing and their daughter. 

“You’re Lukas if I remember correctly-”  _ you're the boy who broke my baby's heart,  _ is what Lukas hears. 

“Yeah and you’re Laurelle.”

“I am, and this is Zinnia, our daughter.”

“Adopted?”

“Surrogate… We wanted our first daughter to be ours, really.”

“Oh.”

“But we want to adopt. Just not yet,” Philip cuts in. “Adoption was just a lot more costly at the time,” he continues to explain.

“Really it’s a killer process. I mean children aren’t cheap but add some adoption fees in and… we just weren’t in the position yet.”

Lukas nods. “You're both still so young, I can’t imagine looking into something like this with anybody I’ve dated,” Lukas admits.

“Well sure, it takes the right person,” Laurelle comforts. “I guess we got married and it wasn’t long until we talked about children and then  _ wanted  _ children- it was strangely a lot like a het-romance kind of movie.”

“Yeah, the curtains were drawn and it was early morning with a nice afterglow even.”

“ _ Dirty.  _ There’s still a two year old in the room,” Laurelle quips.

“She doesn’t know!”

“She’s smart as anyone could be, she might!”

“God forbid, she’s two!”

“What if she does?”

“Sex isn’t a shameful thing to talk about-”

“She’s  _ innocent.  _ Let me preserve my daughter,” Laurelle pleads, pressing his cheek to her head and the distracted girl turns to her father and bursts into bubbling laughter. Lukas feels sick, he doesn’t belong here in their home, eating dinner with them. He’s close to pretending he has to leave.

“You two haven’t changed,” he settles on saying instead, fiddling with the phone in his back pocket. The little families eyes turn to him and god he feels like he’s just intruded on something he shouldn’t have.

“We’ve shifted slightly,” Laurelle offers.

“Much like tectonic plates,” Philip concludes. 

“Right… where’s your bathroom?” He asks. “I just wanted to freshen up a bit,” he tries to excuse.

“Down the hall, left of the living room and the very last door on the very end of that hall.”

Lukas nods, and he didn’t really need much of a tour now, he was giving himself the walk through. He could hear Philip sigh in the kitchen. He just barely hears him ask Laurelle ‘what was I  _ thinking. _ ’ Philip regretted this probably as much as Lukas did.

Things got weird after the party, they didn’t know how to approach each other. They just didn’t. It all fell apart, very silently. Maybe Philip was angry, but he didn’t know. He never knew. Philip saw him in person and panic. Lukas recalls getting a box full of ashes with a note three days after he kissed that other boy.  _ Your stuff made a good bonfire, sorry if you wanted any of it back.  _ He never knew if Philip was really sorry. He never got to know, Philip took an offer to graduate early. He traveled, he dated a beautiful boy, apparently got married while attending college and had a daughter. And good for him right? 

Right, supposedly. But all these pictures on the wall, of their wedding, of the pictures philip took of Laurelle of them together, or of their daughter just made Lukas’ stomach sink. It could have been- he thinks. Or this could have been them. Or the heartbreak and the wounds might have been fresher now- maybe he wouldn’t be married, maybe he would be crying over Lukas right now. Funny how things work out. He thinks it pretty bitterly.  _ Funny how things work out.  _ Yeah, hysterical. And maybe Laurelle and Philip are having a good laugh about it. He wonders if they know he’s stalking their halls looking at their pictures. 

For the first time he notices the TV on as he enters the living room fully and not just the lingering cross of the halls. There’s also music lingering in the background by the kitchen- probably emitting from that small blue vintage radio on the window sill, conveniently over the kitchen sink.  _ Cliche.  _ This was all so cliche- Philip’s perfect, rich life. With the perfect rich husband. And the perfect rich daughter. He almost wishes he had what Philip had, the nice couches and the flat screen on the perfect rich purple wall that was painted such a subtle purple because it was  _ empowering  _ and  _ calming  _ all at once. Lukas can recall conversations on the color of Philip’s walls several times that year they dated- just barely a year. Everything Philip ever said to him, stuck. Like he had recorded every word of every conversation, and every moan and breathy sigh of every time they had sex or kissed on their beds or in the barn like young boys do- it was like he had every moment of every day they had spent together recorded into a CD or even a Record player that was playing in his head. He never forgot them or misshaped them, he remembered every word. He regretted every second of what he did. The part he hated most was the soundtrack with that night and how it had it’s own little music video with Philip’s broken watering eyes. It played before bed some nights, over and over again, with  _ Love Shack _ playing behind them. The world blurred out and numbed but all he could see was Philip being broken and hurt. The whole thing was a horror nightmare pity party and Lukas would rewind every second of it to rid of the beast that got them. 

He enters the bathroom  _ finally _ and it’s so nice. With the perfect marble tile flooring to the shaggy little carpets and the two sinks, the bath tub with kid toys in it and a little baby-bath for their 1 and a half year told, to the shower just above it- a  _ rain shower _ even. Perfect, of course it was perfect.

  
  


Philip pouted, putting the wooden spoon down and turning the stove off to pour the sauce over the chicken individually on each plate. “Stop stressing, he grew up nicely,” Laurelle tries to soothe and Philip looks at him helplessly.

“I don’t know what to say to him. I loved him Laurie and I’ve never been hurt like that. This is  _ years  _ of anger that’s pent up and I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want to stoop that low.”

“You invited him, you gave him your phone number. Just smile pretty for tonight and if it gets desperate, drink a lot and puke.”

“Bad advice,” Philip whispers, teasingly, but they’re smiling and he likes Laurelle’s smile. “It takes too long to drink enough to puke.”

“Unless you take two shots of vodka down fast, that makes your head spin and you would just run to the trash. Especially you.”

“I’m not a lightweight.”

“You don’t have to be. Vodka makes everybody dizzy. And you get dizzy easy.”

“Yeah… it’s what made cruises a no go ever again.”

“But somehow you’re just magic to bring on planes.”

“They’re magical,” Philip argues and Laurelle laughs, kissing Philip soft and light on the lips, Philip leaning into it just slightly before their daughter decides she’s jealous of her lack of attention, tapping their lips with her little green blanket bear. They part reluctantly, looking to the one year old girl.

“Zinnia baby are you hungry?” Philip cooed, kissing her cheeks. “Do you wanna eat now?”

She shakes her head. “Peppa Pip!” she cheers, pointing towards the living room while hurling her body forward towards Philip and he’s lucky he notices in time to catch her- not that Laurelle would have let go of her or let her fall but Zinnia enjoyed being spontaneous enough to scare them both. 

He sighs, and shakes his head. “Can we eat first?”

“Nooo,” she cooes and Philip raises an eyebrow.

“What if I say ‘please’?” The little smartass pretends to think before shaking her head. 

“No,” she decides. For a one year old, Zinnia was smart just like (according to Philip) Laurelle but also just like (according to Laurelle) Philip. Way above average as the both of them have been, both early graduates from high school, both successful people who graduated from successful colleges. Philip huffs and Laurelle laughs.

“Just let her watch TV.”

“But then her meal time cuts into our drinking time and her bedtime which cuts into  _ our  _ bedtime and we were so busy making dinner during her naptime I didn’t get  _ my  _ playtime fill.”

“Suck it up you big baby,” Laurelle jokes. “We’re grown ups now, we can stay up until  _ 10.30  _ or  _ 11  _ or even  _ midnight  _ if we wanted to,” he whispers excitedly, almost childlike and Philip bubbles in laughter before remembering they had a guest over that was no where to be seen. His smile dies down.

“What happened to Lukas?” He whispers and Laurelle’s brow furrows. 

“He went to the bathroom a while ago, you think he’s okay?”

“I mean I hope so. The last thing I want is a dead or sick ex-boyfriend in  _ my  _ bathroom. Then we look like killers.”

“Okay, well, just go check on him. If we’re lucky he just snuck out the window and took the fire escape all the way down.”

“Why me?”

“You’re his ex-boyfriend. Not me, remember?”

Philip huffed a bit before nodding and trotting out to go to the bathroom, knocking lightly on the door. “Lukas, you okay in there?”

“Yeah I’m fine, just- getting used to your weird sink?”

Philip scoffs. “They’re a little backwards but not too hard. You’ll be out soon yeah? Dinner’s almost ready, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Want anything special to drink?”

“Anything is fine.”

“Sure,” Philip says casually, feeling a little awkward. “Okay well, take your time or don’t, or do. I’ll be… we’ll be in the kitchen,” he rambles before walking away and back to the kitchen. “He didn’t run yet,” he announces. “What are we drinking?”

“I picked some nice sodas to go with dinner,” laurelle offers, putting Zinnia on the floor before deciding against it and putting her in her basinet to play there. She looks up at him as if he's betrayed her, stands up and makes a whine of protest. “Wait babe,” philip cooes. “Just until the tables set,” he comforts as he puts the plates on the table. Laurelle pouring drinks, he glances to philip with whole hearted admiration. He puts the bottle down and kisses his cheek, Zinnia watches curiously with her pout. “Have you been keeping up with the paper?”

 “Just lightly. Why?”

“Two local Scientists- Horvat and Mardome- are having debate of the century on ecosystematical existence of evolution or something complex like that.”

                 “oh! I've heard of that. But i haven't been able to read the arguments and debates.”

                 “I saved the debates for you,” Philip recalls proudly. “Its intense. At one point Horvat pulled a total Hamilton to Adams.”

                  “Trivia question: where was the ‘sit down john’ line originally from?”

                  “Its from Book of Mormon?” Philip questions and Laurelle shakes his head. “No it has to be!” he gasps. “no! Spring awakening!”

“Spring Awakening? Is there even a character named John in Spring Awakening?”

“You're right… they just stole Jonathan Groff from that.”

Lukas walks in then, clearing his throat and Philip smiles softly at him. “Figure out the sink?”

“Yeah, it’s a weird sink,” Lukas says.

“What’s wrong with the sink?” Laurelle asks and Philip shrugs.

“It’s tongue tied and backwards,” Philip fills in. 

Laurelle nods and gestures towards the table. “Dinner’s mostly ready. Soda with dinner, drinking afterwards.”

“We’re hoping that Zinnia will be in bed by down.”

“How do you feel about threesomes?” Laurelle puts in to see if Lukas was really listening to either of them- he must have been because he looks up wild eyed and startled. 

“ _ What _ ?” 

“It was a joke, settle down, we don’t bite- at least I don’t. God knows what sort of manner’s Philip will forget.”

“Note to self- don’t bite your ex-boyfriends or strangers for that matter,” Philip says allowed with a sort of concentrated looks on his face. 

“I feel like an outsider in on the gilmore girls,” Lukas admits. 

“Hey you finally watched it!” 

“My current boyfriend is maybe more obsessed than you are.”

“Good man he is. You should have brought him!”

“Oh well he’s not here with me, but I was texting him in the bathroom and I think he’s in love with both of you,” Lukas admits.

“Are you serious?” Philip asks, seeming hopeful and genuine. Like he really cared if Lukas was serious with somebody. ( _ Happy  _ even.) “With him I mean,” Philip clarifies as if he came off some type of way.

“Well I haven’t been seeing him that long… it’s only been a couple months, casual dates.”

“Could it be serious?”

“Well… maybe. He’s nice. He’d make a good boyfriend.”

“You  _ like  _ him, you’re blushing.”

“Okay but you like Laurelle!”

“I’m  _ married  _ to him duffus, of course I like him!”

“Yeah but you’re blushing now too.”

“If it counts, I’m just in it for the fame,” Laurelle butts in jokingly, poking at a green bean. “Why did you make them so buttery?”

“What’s a good vegetable with butter?”

“Healthy?” Lukas offers and Philip scoffs.

“Yeah what biker boy said,” Laurelle says.

“I can’t believe you guys are ganging up on me! I like my vegetables buttery, no objections, eat them,” Philip says, stabbing at a green bean and eating it with authority. Lukas turns to Laurelle now because somehow Laurelle is almost more comforting to talk to than Philip who was all the matters of pomp and circumstance. 

“So his photo business is going well?”

“If the walls weren’t enough proof, yeah I’d say he’s doing well off. How’s the bike business?”

“Businessy- a lot more meetings than I thought. You’d think I was CEO.”

“Hey, life of a celebrity,  _ everybody _ wants to talk to  _ you _ . I bet you get all the hot guys.”

“Are you hitting on him?” Philip jokes. “I mean first ‘he grew up nice’ and now ‘I bet you get all the hot guys’ like you’re the only hot guy and you’re married mister!” Philip protests playfully and Lukas can’t help but laugh, it was almost comical and Philip is beaming with pride in himself that he made both men laugh, because Laurelle is laughing too.

“Philip there are other hot guys!” 

“Uhm I want you to name one!” 

“Philip Shea.”

“Never heard of him, doesn’t count.  _ Next. _ ”

“Brad Pitt?”

“Ew, did you see his look in the Fight Club Era? Yikes. Next.”

“Channing Tatum?” 

“Cute, not hot.”

“Scott.  _ East _ wood.”

Philip gasps and Lukas chokes on his chicken a bit watching the two. He swore, they were almost scripted. “That’s my second husband! My secret husband, the one I keep in the closet to keep me company when you’re gone. I sucked his dick to get me that gig on that movie set-”

Almost to remind him, a bored Zinnia yells in frustration at her toy and throws it out of the basinet. 

“Where would you have met Scott Eastwood, first of all, and second of all got close enough to blow him?” Laurelle queries.

“Uhm New York is a bustling city with bustling people and Scott Eastwood. It only makes sense that I ran into him-”

“And then blew him? No way, I would have been told with details immediately!”

“Wait, you’d be okay with him blowing Scott Eastwood?” Lukas cuts in.

“Sure, it’s not everyday you get to blow Scott Eastwood. Celebrity sexceptions?” Laurelle says and Philip nod's, cutting into the soft chicken and Laurelle does much the same, they seem to mimic each other without meaning to. They were just in sync. (if it was said out loud, Philip would probably follow up with an In Sync joke or sing an In Sync song and Laurelle would back him up or laugh and tell their child that  _ daddy is so wild sometimes, can you believe we’re lucky enough to have him?) _

“We each get three celebrities, can be changeable and it cannot be anybody we previously knew. So like you, I can’t fuck you- not that I want to fuck you or anything-”

“Can you stop cursing around our daughter Philip?”

“I mean… No there’s no way I can use a sensor word that doesn’t sound ridiculous Laurie.”

“I didn’t think you wanted to do me,” Lukas cuts in awkwardly. 

“Oh and we have to tell each other all the details,” Laurelle finishes, getting up to get Zinnia who was calling ‘papa! Papa!’ in her sweet voice from her basinet. Philip watches, the girl coming up with one of the blankets in there, giggling with her passy in her mouth. 

“Take it from her please,” Philip says and Laurelle nods, tugging the pacifier away, knowing it was bad for her teeth. She pouts and Philip extends his arms to take her. “Come on, time to eat?”

She nods and settles on his lap, Philip holding her. He looks to Lukas and smiles, almost awkwardly, Laurelle settling back in his chair, offering a small kick from under the table and philip smiled, feeding their daughter off his plate. Well this wasn’t so bad.

  
  


“I think it went well,” Philip decides as he enters the living room where Laurie was picking things up.

“Wasn’t so scary, huh?” Laurelle teases, Philip picking up the champagne bottle and the Scotch bottle, Laurie holding the glasses.

“No it was kind of nice… I should text him a thank you in the morning.”

“Why not now?”

“It’s too soon.”

Laurelle laughed. “Tell him we had fun in the morning then.”

“We’re about to have a lot of fun, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.”

“Are you bringing Scott Eastwood?”

“Definitely.”

They laughed and met in a kiss, so yeah maybe life was a little perfect but Philip certainly didn’t mind and he hopes Lukas the best of luck find his own perfection later in life. 


End file.
